2023 Summer Preview: The TV, movies, music, and books you won't want to miss

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Summer entertainment

John Boyega in They Cloned Tyrone; Don Cheadle in Secret Invasion; Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That; Tom Holland in The Crowded Room — EW's 2023 Summer Preview.

With the return of Sex and the City (with And Just Like That season 2) and Justified (with the City Primeval miniseries), plus more than one superhero multiverse (Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, The Flash) and Christopher Nolan's explosive new venture (Oppenheimer), you won't be left scrolling for viewing options this summer. Keep clicking for exclusive first looks and previews of the TV shows, movies, albums, and books you won't want to miss.

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Reality

May 29 on HBO and Max

In Reality, Sydney Sweeney steps into the interrogation room as Reality Winner, the former National Security Agency contractor charged with leaking a damning classified report about Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. An adaptation of director Tina Satter's acclaimed 2019 play Is This a Room, the film centers on Winner's unnerving interrogation by two FBI agents (played by Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis) that would lead to her arrest under the Espionage Act. —Jessica Wang

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

In theaters June 2

Five years after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales is swinging back into action. The much-anticipated sequel follows Miles (Shameik Moore) and Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) as they venture into the multiverse, squaring off against the villainous Spot (Jason Schwartzman) and teaming up with countless other Spideys. Across the Spider-Verse also hopes to top the first film's jaw-dropping visuals, experimenting with new animation techniques. "Hopefully, it will make people aware that we're just scratching the surface of what's possible," producer Chris Miller says. "Anything that you can imagine, you can see cinematically." —Devan Coggan

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Manifest

June 2 on Netflix

The final 10 episodes of Manifest — packaged as season 4, part 2 — are finally on their way, bringing fans the proper finale they've been craving since NBC canceled the show and Netflix resurrected it. Because it's the end, "you can't not go out with a bang, especially after everything that's happened," says star Melissa Roxburgh, who plays Michaela Stone. And what a bang it will be: Series creator Jeff Rake tells EW that the finale is "hands down the most ambitious episode we have ever shot." —Nick Romano

Jakes Shears' wild collaboration with Jane Fonda

Out June 2

For his disco-drenched new solo album, Last Man Dancing, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears recruited none other than living legend Jane Fonda. The result is the scorching sci-fi odyssey "Radio Eyes," which features a commanding voiceover from his friend and longtime idol. So just how game was she? Says Shears, "I just shot her an email and said, I've put you on a techno record, are you down?' She seemed delighted."

Read our interview with Shears.

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The Boogeyman

In theaters June 2

Air actor Chris Messina plays a psychiatrist, grieving widower, and father-of-two whose life takes a terrifying turn upon meeting with a mysterious man, played by David Dastmalchian. According to Dastmalchian, movie-goers should brace themselves for "a horror the likes of which the people in this film — and I think audiences — have really never seen before." Hot Brit horror filmmaker Rob Savage (Host), directs this adaptation of a vintage Stephen King short story. —Clark Collis

Cruel Summer

June 5 on Freeform

After the success of its first season, a new cast will take up the mantle for Cruel Summer's sophomore run. This time around, the series completely reinvents itself, moving the action to an idyllic waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest to follow the rise and fall of an intense teenage friendship and the love triangle that forms between Megan (Sadie Stanley), Isabella (Lexi Underwood), and Megan's best friend Luke (Griffin Gluck), all chronicled in three different timelines surrounding Y2K and a central mystery connecting them all. —Sydney Bucksbaum

Niall Horan's Show

Out June 9

Niall Horan is ready to put on a Show when his third solo album drops June 9. The former One Directioner and current Voice coach's sophomore offering, Heartbreak Weather, was released just before 2020's lockdown, resulting in a canceled tour and plenty of time to sit and, well, write another album. In EW's interview with Horan, he previews The Show, notes how it differs from his previous albums, and reveals what he's most looking forward to about getting back on the road. —Ashley Boucher

Read our interview with Horan.

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TLC's TLC Forever

TLC publicity — TLC's Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas. Dennis Leupold

June 3 on Lifetime and A&E

"I do believe if 'No Scrubs' or 'Unpretty' or 'Creep' came out tomorrow, they would be bumping on the radio just the same," says Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, reflecting on the 30-year legacy of her iconic group TLC. On the eve of their new Lifetime and A&E documentary, TLC Forever, T-Boz and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas look back at their journey to becoming the best-selling American female group all of time.

Read our interview with TLC.

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The Crowded Room

June 9 on Apple TV+

The Crowded Room is "an insight to the human mind," Tom Holland tells EW about his new psychological thriller. Created by Akiva Goldsman, the 10-episode series follows Danny, a shy, anti-social teen who is arrested after a shooting at the Rockefeller Center in 1979. Through a series of discussions with investigator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried), Danny comes to better understand his own mental health, the people in his life, and the tragic events that led up to the incident. —Emlyn Travis

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

In theaters June 9

The Maximals have arrived in the universe of Transformers with this summer's Rise of the Beasts, but so has the '90s. Director Steven Caple Jr. says there's a lot of '90s aesthetic coming at audiences from all angles, and we can thank actor Pete Davidson, who voices the Autobot known as Mirage, for some of it. Caple says the Saturday Night Live alum was channeling Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler in the popcorn flick. —N.R.

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Outlander

June 16 on Starz

Outlander is going to war in season 7. The Revolutionary War, that is. "The kitchen sink is what you can expect," teases executive producer Matthew Roberts. "We load that kitchen sink up with everything. In comparison to other seasons, there's more going on in season 7 than every one of our other seasons, not necessarily combined, but pretty close to it. We finally get to the Revolutionary War and how it affects all of our characters." —Maureen Lee Lenker

Asteroid City

In theaters June 16

Wes Anderson's newest movie takes viewers back to 1955, when a group of Junior Stargazers show up in a fictional American desert town and get a glimpse of extraterrestrial life — or do they? Many details are being kept under wraps ahead of the film's Cannes premiere, but we know from Scarlett Johansson that she plays an actress who's "had an illustrious career" and "talks a lot about her past and what drove her." Although this is Johansson's first live-action Anderson film after voicing a character in Isle of Dogs, she shares many of her scenes with longtime Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman, and that dynamic seems to carry through the cast as a whole. —Christian Holub

The Walking Dead: Dead City

June 18 on AMC

Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are back as everyone's favorite dysfunctional post-apocalyptic duo, Maggie and Negan. However, start spreadin' the news! For instead of battling zombies — and each other — in the woods of Georgia and Virginia, this time they will be killing walkers — and each other??? — on the mean streets of New York City. —Dalton Ross

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Secret Invasion

June 21 on Disney+

After popping up in Marvel films for more than a decade, Nick Fury is finally stepping into the spotlight. Samuel L. Jackson's one-eyed agent takes the lead in this Disney+ spy series, following Nick as he uncovers a conspiracy of shape-shifting Skrulls. The stacked cast includes Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Martin Freeman, Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. —D.C.

Kelly Clarkson's Chemistry

Out June 23

Yes, Kelly Clarkson's 10th studio album, Chemistry, is considered her divorce album — but she insists it's really about the whole of a relationship, the highs and the lows. In addition to the already released "Mine" and "Me," two emotional gut punches, the June 23 release features a few more tear-jerkers, including "Skip This Part," which Clarkson had a tough time singing for the first time when she performed the full LP on her birthday at L.A.'s Belasco. But tracks including "Favorite Kind of High," "I Hate Love," and "That's Right" offer more lively dynamic. As honest as Clarkson says she is over the course of the 14 tracks, she also admits with a laugh, "I know people will hear this record and be like, 'Oh, damn, she went there!' and I'm like, 'No, I promise you I didn't.'"

Read our interview with Clarkson.

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No Hard Feelings

In theaters June 23

Come for Jennifer Lawrence flexing her comedy chops as a broke Uber driver who answers a Craigslist ad from wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to date their awkward 19-year-old son, Percy, before college. Stay for Matthew Broderick in a wig that director Gene Stupnitsky refers to as his "still f---s hair." —Lauren Huff

I'm a Virgo

June 23 on Prime Video

The Prime Video series follows Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), the titular Virgo and 13-foot-tall Black man from Oakland, as he ventures out into the world for the first time in 19 years, making friends, falling in love, and making highly questionable decisions. But in all fairness, it's hard finding a decent paying job when you're the height of a single-story house. "I remember Boots [Riley] pulling me aside saying, 'Somebody told me not to do this because it's going to be hard," Jerome recalls. "And he was like, 'I should have listened.'" —Lester Brathwaite

Hijack

June 28 on Apple TV+

"I wanted to make something that has impact as an actor, obviously, but also as a producer in terms of what my taste is," Idris Elba says of his new show Hijack, which he notes "really ticked so many boxes." The thriller follows the hijacking of a plane flying from Dubai to London in real time as businessman Sam Nelson (Elba) tries his hand at negotiating with the assailants. While Sam is in the sky, Zahra Gahfoor (Archie Panjabi) is down in ground control with her team dealing with a plane traveling through the airspace of several countries. "It is an examination of the [different] procedures and attitudes [between countries], and that becomes a focal point of the storytelling," he explains. —Alamin Yohannes

The Witcher

June 29 (season 3, vol. 1) and July 27 (season 3, vol. 2) on Netflix

According to The Witcher showrunner Lauren Hissrich, season 3 is "when everything changes in the series" — and not just because this is headliner Henry Cavill's last time playing Geralt of Rivia. Hissrich and star Anya Chalotra (the sorceress Yennefer) explain how the coming episodes, which are split into two parts to adapt the book Time of Contempt, chronicle the core trio (including Freya Allan's Ciri) coming into their own. There's also a ton of action. "We're in it now. We're in the thick of the story," teases Chalotra. —N.R.

Lucinda Williams' Stories From a Rock n Roll Heart

Out June 30

In the past three years, Lucinda Williams has survived a tornado, a pandemic, and a stroke. But as the title of her upcoming 15th album, Stories From a Rock n Roll Heart, suggests, there's a fighting spirit in her that won't give up. "I've been out touring even though I can't play guitar, got my band backing me up, and I go out and sing," says the alt-country legend. "And people are saying that my voice is sounding better than it did before my stroke."

Read our interview with Williams.

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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

In theaters June 30

Harrison Ford's swan song as the beloved professor of archaeology will see him face off against Mads Mikkelsen's Nazi NASA scientist in a race to retrieve the mysterious dial of destiny, which can reportedly change the course of history. Along the way he'll encounter his feisty goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), and archaeology wonders galore — just hopefully not any snakes. —L.H.

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And Just Like That

Coming in June on HBO and Max

Team Aidan will feast well when the Sex and the City sequel series returns this summer. John Corbett is officially back on the show for season 2, but showrunner Michael Patrick King wants to make clear it has nothing to do with a Peloton. (No bad press for the smart bike company this season.) Corbett's Aidan Shaw isn't the only familiar face coming in And Just Like That. Candice Bergen is back as Vogue editor Enid Frick, and Gloria Steinem and Sam Smith are playing themselves. —N.R.

Black Mirror

Coming in June on Netflix

Are you ready to take another look inside the black mirror? As the world has gotten more and more dystopian over the past few years, the most popular dystopian sci-fi show of recent vintage has been notably absent from our screens. But fear no longer, because Black Mirror is roaring back to Netflix this summer with new episodes. —C.H.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

In theaters July 12

Tom Cruise's death-defying superspy Ethan Hunt returns in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One to face off against a new antagonist. Director Christopher McQuarrie describes this villain, played by Esai Morales, as "something of a ghost of the past." In real life, Cruise cocked a snook at the Grim Reaper by riding a motorbike off a cliff in Norway for the film, which costars Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Pom Klementieff. —C.C.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty

July 14 on Prime Video

When The Summer I Turned Pretty returns for its highly anticipated second season, it will deliver book fans more of what they've been waiting for, including a certain scene involving cocoa. "Any time that there is a scene in the books that I know is really important to the readers, it's something that I try to keep sacred for the show," author and creator Jenny Han says. "We knew how important the scene was for the fans." —S.B.

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Oppenheimer

In theaters July 21

In Dunkirk filmmaker Christopher Nolan's second based-on-real-events World War II tale, Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist tasked with creating a weapon capable of ending the conflict. The cast list of Nolan's star-studded venture also includes Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, and Emily Blunt. —C.C.

They Cloned Tyrone

July 21 on Netflix

They Cloned Tyrone is a genre-bending ode to the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx star as an unlikely trio tasked with saving their neighborhood, and Black neighborhoods across the country, from a nefarious plot to keep Black people docile using clones and other methods ripped from popular conspiracy theories. "I loved the concept," says Boyega, who calls the film "a new vibe entirely" and a "cool representation" of the "more nuanced" Black projects coming from big Hollywood studios. "It was a dope thing to be a part of." —L.B.

The Beanie Bubble

In select theaters July 21 and on Apple TV+ July 28

There are more than warm, fuzzy feelings at play in The Beanie Bubble. The colorful comedy is a fictionalized retelling of how billionaire Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis), backed by three instrumental women, cultivated the Beanie Baby phenomenon that captivated the U.S. throughout the '90s. Directors Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash describe the film as a "fascinating story about what America values" amid "this insane craze where, for three years, people treated little $5 bean bag animals like gold."

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Haunted Mansion

In theaters July 28

A foolish mortal Justin Simien certainly is not, as the Haunted Mansion director found a fresh way to adapt the classic narrative behind one of Disneyland's most widely beloved rides. With direct cues lifted from the attraction — including the stretching room, the iconic "Grim Grinning Ghosts" tune, and Jared Leto's "menacing and terrifying" Hatbox Ghost — Simien tells the tale of a single mother (Rosario Dawson) who moves into a New Orleans abode, only to discover that it's already inhabited by 999 happy haunts. She enlists a team of paranormal aces (Jamie Lee Curtis, Owen Wilson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish) to help rid the manor of spiritual squatters. Judging by the film's creepy teaser trailer, they put up a hell of a fight across this family horror flick. —Joey Nolfi

Talk to Me

In theaters July 28

In this Australian horror film, partying teenagers use the severed hand of a deceased medium to become possessed by the spirits of the dead. "The way we describe it is, they use demonic possession to get high," says Danny Philippou, who directed the film with his twin, Michael. Sophie Wilde stars as Mia, who takes matters too far with terrifying consequences. "Mia sort of gets addicted to using that hand and the euphoria it brings her," says the actress. "And then it all goes to s--- after that!" —C.C.

Justified: City Primeval

Coming in July on FX

Raylan Givens is back, but that doesn't mean viewers know what to expect from the new limited series Justified: City Primeval. "You're not going to recognize anyone — the world, the relationships," Timothy Olyphant tells EW. "I just don't think you're going to see what's coming." (One thing we do know for sure: there's a new Boyd in town as Boyd Holbrook joins the show as villain Clement Mansell). —S.B.

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Painkiller

Aug. 10 on Netflix

Uzo Aduba, Matthew Broderick, and Taylor Kitsch lead the cast of the upcoming Netflix drama. Based on a New Yorker article by Patrick Radden Keefe and a book by Barry Meier, the series follows its characters during the start of the opioid crisis. From director and executive producer Peter Berg and executive producer Eric Newman, the show follows various viewpoints to show the full impact of the crisis. "Something that Pablo Escobar used to say is, 'If the coca plant grew in Virginia, cocaine would be legal," Newman says. "And here's proof." —Samantha Highfill

Heart of Stone

Aug. 11 on Netflix

Move over, James Bond. There's a new spy making her action film debut, and she's ready to save the world in a new way. Gal Gadot stars in Netflix's upcoming thriller Heart of Stone, and director Tom Harper tells EW he hopes that it's only the beginning of a new, female-led action franchise. The fast-paced film centers on elite agent Rachel Stone (Gadot), who harbors a secret even bigger than her career with the MI6: She's the only woman who stands between an ultra-mysterious, powerful, global, peace-keeping organization, the Charter, and the loss of its most valuable (and dangerous) asset, the Heart. "She's obviously worked in the more heightened films, be that Wonder Woman, or Fast & Furious, or even Red Notice to a degree," Harper says of Gadot. "She and I really wanted to make this a more grounded character that is very much rooted to this world so that she was relatable, that she was human, that she bleeds. She has emotions, she finds things difficult. It's not straightforward. The relationships were real and there was always a sort of emotional reality all the way through." —S.B.

Blue Beetle

In theaters Aug. 18

What We Do in the Shadows funnyman Harvey Guillén makes his debut in the DC universe as Dr. Sanchez in Blue Beetle. The film tells the superhero origin story of Jaimie Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), a college grad who becomes the next human host for an ancient alien weapon of war, the Scarab. —N.R.

Bottoms

In select theaters Aug. 25

Two lesbian teenagers haphazardly start an after-school female fight club as a ploy to hook up with cheerleaders. What could go wrong? Spoiler alert: Kind of everything. Actress Rachel Sennott, who stars as PJ opposite The Bear's Ayo Edebiri as Josie, teases the chaos of the whiteboard she and her Shiva Baby director Emma Seligman used to brainstorm the film Bottoms: "We were like, 'A bomb! Yeah, we'll do a bomb. We're gonna need stunts. Huge fights. There's a sword.' We're gonna put anything we want in there." —N.R.

Evil

Coming this summer on Paramount+

Evil, the spooky Paramount+ series returns, once again following Kristen (Katja Herbers), David (Mike Colter), and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) as they investigate demons, prophecies, and the occasional haunted elevator. Oh, and Kristen's nemesis Leland (Michael Emerson) might be using her stolen egg to try to birth the antichrist. And Kristen's mom (Christine Lahti) is still working for a five-eyed goat demon who likes biscuits and Peloton. What, you thought your family drama was bad? —D.C.

Best books of summer 2023

The summer 2023 book season features everything from thrillers to romance novels to historical epics, as well as memoirs, tales of complicated friendships, and stories of time travel. We rounded up the 27 best books of summer 2023 to take on vacation. Because 25 just wasn't enough. —M.L.L.

Check out our summer reading list.